International arrivals soar for CIIE, fueling growth in flights, hotels

The ongoing 7th China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai has spurred a significant rise in demand for international flights, hotel accommodations and city commuting services, data from Qunar.com and DiDi showed.

As of Tuesday, hotel bookings in Shanghai during the expo were up 80 percent year-on-year, while the number of international flight tickets to Shanghai more than doubled, according to Qunar.com.

Regarding the origin of travelers' countries, the top 10 sources during and around the expo are Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, Singapore, the U.S., Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

For city commuting, data from DiDi showed that on the first two days of the expo, the number of daily ride orders from inbound visitors using the app in Shanghai skyrocketed by 151 percent compared with last year's CIIE.

Travelers from the U.S., Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Germany, Japan and the UK are among the app's most frequent users.

From November 1 to 3 right before the CIIE started, DiDi's average daily orders from inbound users in Shanghai were up 225 percent compared with the period before last year's expo.

Both Chinese companies and local authorities have stepped up efforts to facilitate overseas visitors' travel experience.

The DiDi app offers enhanced services for international users, including an English interface, bilingual messaging and 24/7 English customer support for a seamless travel experience.

The Shanghai police department, in cooperation with the CIIE, sent bilingual emails to more than 17,000 overseas exhibitors, ensuring they were fully aware of entry and exit policies before the expo. The police also set up green channel services for foreign visitors without visas at airports, according to the official website of the police.

Visa-exempt exhibitors from more than 20 countries can obtain temporary residence permits for continued business activities on arrival.

The 7th CIIE opened a service station at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), the main venue for the expo, on Monday, as Shanghai has introduced a comprehensive range of services for CIIE participants, the Xinhua News Agency reported.